Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to antennas, such as microwave reflector antennas, and, more specifically but not exclusively, to mechanisms for retaining a radome upon the periphery of the reflector dish of such antennas.
Description of the Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the invention. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is prior art or what is not prior art.
U.S. patent application publication no. 2013/0099991 A1 (“the '991 publication”), the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses a rim-based mechanism for retaining a radome upon the periphery of the reflector dish of a microwave reflector antenna. For typical applications, a relatively large clamping fixture is used to apply enough force to hold two semi-circular, metallic rims securely in place over the periphery of the mated radome and reflector dish while the rims are fastened to provide an RF seal with the reflector dish that limits RF leakage during antenna transmission. To reduce RF leakage to satisfactory levels, this rim-based mechanism often requires a backlobe suppression ring, which is frequency specific. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,138,958, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. In addition, the use of the large clamping fixture limits the act of assembling the various elements into the desired radome-reflector assembly to be implemented in only those locations where such a fixture is available.